rookie of the year
by RookieGinge
Summary: Oneshot, mostly Andy-centric. Some Andy/Luke angst, with Andy/Sam  hurt/comfort & friendship. Rated T. Based off of the promo for episode 5, 'Broad Daylight'. / She has terrible taste in men. Apparently, Luke is no exception.


**Disclaimer:** Ha! Me, own Rookie Blue? Yeah right! ;)

Rated T for some mild swearing, and just in case.

**A/N: **So, another oneshot! Woohoo!

This is based on the promo video for tonight's episode, 'Broad Daylight'. I can pretty much guarantee that this won't happen, but ... oh well.

Andy/Luke angst, with Andy/Sam hurt/comfort & almost-romance at the end.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

-0-0-

Sam's words ring in her ears hours after he'd said them. She'd stalked away from him, upset – and pissed … at him, for putting doubts in her head; at herself, for the not-so-little part of her brain that can't seem to dispel the doubts away.

_You might want to be careful. He picks a different rookie every year._

She shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts. _No_, she tells herself. _Luke's not like that._ But she can't help the stray thought, floating across her mind, asking: _Is he?_ They haven't known each other long; have only been on a couple of dates. But she knows him well enough to know that he's not the type to love 'em and leave 'em … right?

Ugh, she wishes she knew.

-0-0-

When she overhears Officers Williams and Shaw talking … she does know.

She knows that she's a complete idiot.

"_I wonder who Callaghan will choose this year," Williams comments offhandedly._

"_I don't know," Shaw replies, taking a gulp of his coffee. "But I think Nash is already seeing someone, and Peck really doesn't seem like his type. My money's on McNally."_

"_Shame," Williams says, shaking her head. "She has a lot of promise. And Jenkins only lasted a month before she transferred out last year. I don't want the Detective to chase away another good cop in the making."_

Her eyes burn with unshed tears as she stands behind the corner she'd been coming around when she overheard the two talking. Her mind is racing, and she doesn't even register the compliment from Noelle. _No_, is all she can think. _No, no. No!_ She wipes the tears away as they begin to fall, turning around and walking back to the locker room she'd come from. She just stands in the middle of it for a second, her tear-stained face twisted in anger and pain.

Then, she almost laughs … because she just had the most absurd thought. She worries for a second that maybe she's gone crazy (or is coming close to it). But that thought passes along, and she holds in a chuckle at her original thought.

She's standing in the locker room, having just learned that she's just the most recent in Luke Callaghan's long line of rookie girlfriends, with tears rolling down her cheeks … and all she wants to do at the moment is pull a Sam Swarek and slam her foot into a locker door.

She must be insane.

-0-0-

After she's collected herself and wiped her face clean of tears and non-water-proof mascara, she takes a deep breath and heads for where she knows Lu- _Detective Callaghan_ will be.

As she walks the hallways, thoughts invade her mind and threaten to shatter the iron-strong resolve she's miraculously managed to produce for herself. _What if you're about to ruin a good thing for no good reason?_ Images invade, as well; of Luke smiling down at her as he told her about the murder-house a few doors down from her place, Luke's eyes as he offered her a coffee on her doorstep. A small voice in her head intones, _Maybe Sam's wrong._

_And Shaw and Williams, too?_, another voice in her head asks, arguing with the first voice. _Not very likely; they've been around him a long time, they'd know. And obviously they know that he's just after a Miss Rookie 2010._

_You don't know that_, the first voice argues back, but it's weak.

The second voice finishes the argument off. _You've always had terrible taste in men; apparently, Luke's no exception._

Whether the first voice has no more argument (Andy decides to skim over the fact that she's listening to two arguing voices in her head) or is simply silenced by the fact that she's arrived at the door to Lu- _Detective Callaghan_'s office, she doesn't know. What she does know, is that she now has bigger fish to fry than the voices in her head.

"Andy," Luke says, with a smile on his face, when he notices her standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" It's not said with alarm or intensity as the phrase sometimes is; it's said with a kind of surprised delight. It makes something in her gut clench uncomfortably and angrily.

"I was wondering if you had a moment to talk," she says, her voice betraying some of her stiffness. As her failed attempt at being a hooker proves, she's never been a good actress. She's even worse at keeping her emotions in check. So the fact that she's not yelling at him or crying yet is actually quite the accomplishment for her.

The smile on his face fades a little with her words, but he nods and says, "Yeah, of course," as he closes the file he'd been studying before her arrival. He waves her into the room, gesturing to a chair in front of his desk. She takes a couple steps in, enough to not seem totally impolite – though she doesn't know why she's worried about her manners at a time like this – but at the same time stay close enough to the door to make a quick getaway. She doesn't sit down. "What's on your mind?" Luke asks, brow furrowing a little bit.

She takes a deep breath, licking her lips and sighing as she attempts to form the words she wants to say. She wants to just call him and asshole, and walk away. But her lips aren't cooperating. Instead, much quieter than she'd like, she hears her own voice saying, "I overheard some stuff today, and it got me thinking; about you, mainly … and about me."

When she doesn't offer anything more at first, Luke raises his eyebrows a bit and says, "Could you elaborate a bit, Andy, please? I don't understand where you're going with this conversation."

She shakes her head a bit, looking to the left and staring at the bland, off-white, wall. She's doesn't know where she's going with this conversation, either. Actually, that's not exactly the truth. She's fairly sure she knows where this conversation is going to end up … she's just not quite sure how she's going to get there.

Then she remembers something that Williams said; looking him in the eyes again, she asks, "Do you wanna tell me who 'Jenkins' is?"

Luke swallowed compulsively, his face paling a fraction. Andy just nods. It's all the answer she needs, really. But he starts talking, insistently, and she decides to listen.

"She's no one, Andy. She was a rookie last year, and we had a little misunderstanding. What I mean is, she misunderstood me and thought that I had feelings for her. When I made it clear that she was mistaken, she transferred."

Andy shakes her head and scoffs lightly, deciding that she's done listening. She's a terrible liar, but she knows when she's being lied to; and she doesn't like it. She takes a step back when Luke stands, holding her hand up to prevent his imminent approach. She doesn't want him anywhere near her; not after everything, not knowing what she knows. She just needs to make one thing clear before she leaves. "You're really out of it if you think that I'm going to fall for that. And you're just plain dumb if you ever thought that this was going to work. There's no way in hell," she accentuates the word, "that I'm going to be your rookie of the year."

And then she's out the door, walking swiftly back to the locker room; and this time, she _does_ kick a locker.

(What she'd never admit is that it wasn't nearly as dramatic or effective as when Sam did it. Mainly because her foot basically bounced back off the metal instead of denting it, and she very nearly broke her big toe.)

-0-0-

God, she has such terrible luck with men. Ever since her first boyfriend in high school, they've all turned out to be disappointments, assholes, cheaters, or all of the above. _Some things never change, huh?_ She sighs, tilting her head back and taking a large gulp of her Budweiser.

The scene at the Black Penny is as it always is at the end of a shift. Dov, Chris, and Traci drinking at a side table (she's usually with them, but is just _not_ in the mood tonight). Officers and detectives littered throughout the bar, a few civilians jumbled in the mix. And down at the corner of the bar, Officer Barber is with –

Oh. Not as it always is, then. Sam's usually with him, but tonight Barber's alone. _At least he _will_ be, until Traci excuses herself and not-so-discreetly makes her way over to him_, she thinks to herself, shaking her head slightly and almost smiling … almost. Once she gets off the thought of her best friend's not-so-secret (at least not to her) relationship, she looks back to Jerry and wonders, in spite of herself, where Sam is.

The bar stool to her side squeaks as someone sits upon it, and she jumps a little bit – though she'd never admit it – and tries to cover it up by turning to look at the new arrival. _Well, speak of the devil …_

"Hey," Sam says, taking in her slightly red eyes and grim expression. "What's up?" he asks, a little concern seeping into his tone.

"I heard Shaw and Williams talking today," she replies, looking back to her beer and jumping straight to the point. There's no point beating around the bush. When she doesn't elaborate for a moment, he nudges her shoulder a little bit to encourage her to go on; he wants to understand what she's talking about. She sighs, continuing, "They were talking about Jenkins; I think she was a rookie at the 15th last year?" She looks up at him, and his eyes suddenly filled with understanding as he nods.

She nods too, sadly, before finishing off her beer. "So, what are you gonna do about it?" Sam asks, flagging down the bartender and ordering two more.

She smiles slightly in thanks of the gesture, before sighing again, and saying, "I already dealt with it; told him that he's dumb if he thought I would fall for it, and that I'm not gonna be some rookie of the year of his."

"Good for you," Sam tells her, smiling just a little. Then his face takes on a more serious look and he says, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry that he's an asshole."

"S'okay," she tells him. "It's not your fault. Anyways, I'm used to guys like him."

Sam quirks an eyebrow questioningly, passing her a beer sipping out of his own when the bartender hands the two to him. "What do you mean?"

"I seem to have a talent for picking jerks to be my boyfriend," she explains. "Luke is just one in a long line of douche bags. It's ironic, really, if you think about it," she continues, self-depreciatingly. "I always go for the bad boy, and I always get hurt. This time, I go for the good guy, and I still get hurt." She sips her beer. "It's not even ironic, actually. It's just pathetic." She looks down at her 2nd beer, shaking her head slightly.

He places a hand on her shoulder to get her to look at him. When she doesn't, he says seriously, "It's all on him, McNally. Not you."

She shrugs a little bit, continuing to look down.

"Hey," he says, and this time she looks up. "I mean it. 'Kay?"

"Okay," she says quietly, returning the small smile he sends her.

"So …" he says, leaning his face down closer to hers and saying quietly, "you always go for the bad boy, huh?"

She swallows thickly, trying to pretend that his close proximity hasn't just stolen her breath away. She chooses to just chuckles a little at his obvious flirtation, shaking her head at him and taking a sip of her beer. She tries valiantly to control her rapidly speeding heartbeat. (She doesn't succeed.)

He smiles back, shrugging and saying, "Just wanted to let you know … I wouldn't hurt you."

It's said in all seriousness, the last part said quietly and breathily. Her heartbeat flutters, both at his proximity and his words. She tilts her head to the side and thinks about it for a few moments before she nods slowly, quietly and seriously saying, "I'll definitely keep that in mind," as she looks up at him through her eyelashes.

This time it's his turn to swallow and try to slow his racing heart.

She's just getting over Callaghan at the moment, and isn't ready to start risking her heart on external variables just yet. She desperately wants to believe that he wouldn't hurt her, but she doesn't think she'll be ready to take that step again anytime soon. Besides, Gail was right about the training officer/rookie thing … big no-no. So she'll wait awhile before she explores the opportunity Sam's just presented her with.

_But_, she thinks to herself, as she leans down to grab her purse from where it resides beside her feet, and can feel his eyes on her and sense his heartbeat stutter, _that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with it._

-0-0-

Pretty please review, and let me know what you think!

Constructive criticism is very welcome; flames are not.


End file.
